Tropical Storm Fay Makes Landfall in Florida Keys, Miami

I've lived in Hurricane land for over 40 years and have been affected my many hurricanes and tropical storms during that time. The worst was Hurricane Andrew, which came through here at a category 5 and destroyed whole communities, some of which have not been rebuilt in the 13 years since that time. I was without electricity for 3 weeks and had no phone lines for 3 months. Half my roof blew away and part of my kitchen.

Two years ago, Hurricane Katrina paid us a visit on her way to New Orleans and when she was here was only a category one but still left us without power for 4 days. Hurricane Wilma paid a visit shortly after and caused havoc all over Miami. We were without power for 3 days as well. People were so unprepared that lines for water and ice as well as Gasoline were completely out of hand.

This year, I heard a report that the county will not provide water or ice to anyone to avoid the problems that arose at that time.

Do I worry when I see a storm brewing off the coast of Africa? You bet I do. So far this year we have been lucky but now Tropical Storm Fay has changed that luck and has made landfall just a few hours ago. Wouldn't you know it, a birthday present for me. Andrew also hit right after my birthday.

But so far so good, Fay is not a hurricane, just a nasty storm that will most likely knock out our power and will cause some people to really have a difficult time of it, most likely those who have no money to go out and buy supplies or who live in mobile homes. There are tornados warnings which scare the hell out of me.

The bands of weather have come ashore now.

I've moved all my plants indoors, quite a bit of a job for me since I have a bad back, but it's done. I've charged my cell phone and battery for my portable DVD player just in case. I put ice from my ice maker into Ziploc bags and put them in my freezer to keep my food colder in case the power goes out and have purchased all the food and water we need for at least a week. We filled our gas tanks and a few cans for our generator should we need to use it.. we also have a good supply of batteries on hand for flashlights, radios and other incidentals.

I also have all the extra cat food I might need for my kitties and have filled whatever prescriptions I might have needed in case the drug store should be closed like it was after those previous storms. These are the essentials for anyone who finds themselves in a storm. We decided not to put up shutters, if the winds don't get any stronger there probably won't be a problem. But I did go out and picked up all the coconuts on the ground near my tree. these are potential projectiles and can break windows very easily.

This is an entire state situation, the storms effects might be felt from the southern most tip of Florida to the central gulf coast and most likely will come ashore near Ft Myers or the Tampa bay area, schools had postponed their opening today and for tomorrow as well. Gov. Charlie Crist was just on TV and stressed that everyone should keep informed since tornadoes are going to be an issue as the storm continues north. There is now a tornado alert for all of South Florida.

The winds are predicted to be in the 60 mile range and the storm could get stronger. I have seen a few of those gusts and so far they haven't been too bad,

The heavier rains are happening now but in squalls and only last a short while, then they let up and start all over. Flood warnings have also been issued for Dade and Broward Counties as well as the Keys. As the storm goes further north up the state the same conditions and warnings will occur .

So that's the gist of it as it stands now, hopefully this is going to be the worst of it, if we are lucky, and only get some bad winds and rain. the good thing to come out of this is that is has made residents aware of the fact that this is Hurricane season and to be prepared. That is the most important thing for safety sake, just be informed of what is going on and have all your hurricane/storm plans in place.

Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't get any worse than it is right now.